Thanksgiving and weirdness

I forget how many turkeys I've done now in my {short} life. I think this is the 3rd full-size and I've also done one breast. Baking a Thanksgiving turkey gives me this huge sense of accomplishment - much like music, yoga, work, child birth... {I'm still laughing on that last one. Hope you are, too!}
Anyhow, sis, bro-in-law, and us three celebrated Turkey Day together and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. I was fresh off a plane from Boston so I was fearful that I'd forget to buy something. Thankfully, I had a brief day to go shopping and Sis and I ended up with WAY more than we needed. Sis and I baked and cooked and had loads of laughs in the kitchen. I think BIL {that's bro-in-law for those that don't handle acronyms well} is still amazed at just how much butter went into this bird.

The finished product. And yes - she was a very juicy bird.

Is it weird that I like to take pictures of the turkeys I bake? Oh - and please note that the wedding china made an appearance. I think this is only the second or maybe third time we've eaten off of it. {Mental note - must do more entertaining.}

My daughter likes to take pictures with food, too. {Ok - I admit I may have lured her into this, but you all needed to see this turkey from the 'best' angle.}

The best Black Friday purchase = NEW VACUUM. I'm weird. I know. But - I've needed a new vacuum and this baby was the one I wanted. Funny story:

1) It was NOT on sale at Sears.

2) It WAS on sale at Sears.com.

3) I bought it IN STORE at an ONLINE kiosk. Site-to-Store. One word - awesome.

4) Saved about 50%! YAY!

{Please ignore the array of toys in the floor, on the couch, on the coffee table, etc. Mads likes to make sure there are multiple toy options at ALL times.} And I've now met my quota on ALL CAPS. :)

And now that Blogger has decided to randomly double-space my entry. I shall leave you with this quote:

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

Little Sooner

Hello blog land. It's been a while. That's what happens when life gets in the way. ;0)
Madelyn went to her second OU game in November and she really did great, considering kick-off was during her normal nap time. She did fall asleep on me in the stadium, which wore me out trying to hold all of that limp weight. She loved watching The Pride play their pre-game concert on campus corner and getting to see the ponies and Schooner. Not sure that we'll take her again to a game that kicks-off during nap time, but she's definitely becoming quite the Sooner fan!

She was WAY more interested in seeing the ponies than sitting with the Roughneck Queen. Can't say I blame her.


Showing off our #1 fingers! BOOMER!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere

We've been to this pumpkin patch every year since Madelyn was born. It's our tradition now.
Some things we like about it:
1) It's FREE! Free Parking. Free rides. Free bounce houses. Free photo ops. Free fun! The only thing you pay for are the pumpkins or snacks.
2) They take canned good donations for a local food pantry.
3) Everyone on the staff is so friendly.
4) We always have a great time, no matter how crowded it is.
5) It's near one of our favorite restaurants (see previous post) and we're making that a tradition, too!

Checking out all of the little pumpkins in the 'pumpkin house.'

"What?! You want me to touch one of these muddy, gross pumpkins?"



That's more like it. What a sweet little expression!

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Trick or Treat

This year was Madelyn's first time to Trick or Treat. She did great and quickly learned the routine. Now, any office with candy dishes seems like an opportunity to trick or treat!

This house had full size candy bars! This girl knew exactly what to do - one for her and one for mommy! That's my girl!

Pumpkins

Madelyn and I picked out some very pretty pumpkins and mums this year. Yesterday when we got home, I let her have some fun exploring the front yard. She loves the little pumpkins. And she loves her Halloween shirt from Nana.

Her hair is pretty wild and crazy these days. It needs to get just a little bit longer and then maybe I can pull it into a little ponytail.

Trying to pick up two at a time!

Showing Daddy how strong she is!

I have no idea what these two were up to, but I HAD to get a picture. Just plain silly.

Healing Nicely!

Well, sorry to keep all of you avid blog readers waiting...

Surgery went great! She went in at 8:20am, released about 9:00am, home with McDonald's pancakes by 9:45am, walking around and playing like normal by 10:30am. Probably the yuckiest part was the drainage that came out of her ears. I didn't take any pictures. Didn't figure that was something ANYONE wanted to see. She goes back in about 10 days to make sure everything still looks good in those ears and that all the fluid/sticky earwax is gone.

This was taken the morning after. I'll let you decide if she looks like she's in any pain/discomfort...

She's "talking" more when she reads. {Who cares if the book is upside down - I think it means she's going to be one creative little girl.}

And she's walking at least 90% of the time now. It took her a few days to get used to the new feeling in her head - it would tip backwards periodically - perhaps due to less weight up there? She's wearing her first nightgown - a gift from mommy & daddy for being SO brave.

Later that day Madelyn and I went to Michael's for the Great Pumpkin Event. It was kind of disappointing - not enough paint and glitter - but we still made a pretty cute {craft} pumpkin.

"M" for Madelyn & Mommy!

Tomorrow Madelyn and I are headed to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. I think it's the best one in the Fort Worth metroplex. We took her last year, so maybe this will become tradition.

Oh - and we'll be watching OU/Texas. Hoping for a GREAT game and victory!

Fall Days

Fall is here. I planned all week to take Madelyn to the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday. Gorgeous weather. I even was the thrifty mommy and figured out that if I purchased my ticket at the grocery store, it was $1.50 cheaper! It made me feel pretty cool. I don't know why, but I guess it felt like I could add one more "mommy patch" to my vest. Or sash. I think I like the idea of a sash better than a vest. I also earned another "mommy patch" on Saturday, but we'll get to that...

So I had grand plans to leave the house at 8am so that we could get there when the Arboretum opened {1 hour away.} But Madelyn and I don't get ready very quickly when it's just the two of us. So, we got on the road at 9am. I got my Starbucks fix on the way and a few minutes later I heard Madelyn let out a huge cough from the back seat. I don't know why, but I didn't turn around to check on her then. The occasional cough is normal for me and her - a.k.a. "McRae mucus." For some reason, out of the blue, I turned my head to see what she was up to back there - and I saw every parent's worst nightmare and my next "mommy patch." Wait for it... I know the suspense is killing you....

Puke! In the car! On a cute fall outfit! Nowhere near home! Ticket purchased! Very stinky! Hoping for extra clothes in the diaper bag! She's putting her fingers in it! GROSS!!

Well, I got off the interstate, stripped her down, wiped her down, wiped the car seat down, and put it all in a ziploc bag. Still didn't really help the smell, but we continued down the road towards Dallas.

The Arboretum was beautiful. The weather was perfect. Lots of fun. I hope to go again before it gets too cold and everything dies off. If you've never been, you must go - very kid friendly and worth every penny. Whoever saw soooo many different varieties of pumpkins and gourds?!

I was still able to get some cute pictures - even though the cute outfit got ruined and we went to backup daycare outfit. Oh well... I think the smiles and beautiful backdrops make up for the lack of cute clothes.

Checkin' out the pumpkin.

Checkin' out a boy - seriously. I could not get her to smile at me, only this little boy in the hay "cut out" next to her.

She picked this seat out herself.

Mommy & Madelyn - Dallas Arboretum - October '09

Pretty girl. Pretty flower.

Madelyn will have her tubes put in her ears on Friday morning. Please be in prayer with us that everything will go smoothly and that she'll recover quickly. We have a great and well-respected doctor and pray that He will guide his hands. We'll update you all once we can after she's recovered and we've made it home.

Thankful for so much

It was a pretty eventful few days off from work and daycare around our house.
She worked more on trying to roll over from her back to her tummy.


This is usually about as far as she gets. She just can't seem to get that left shoulder out of her way. Jonathan's working on it though with her every night.



Thanksgiving morning brought lots of fun - rice cereal!


This is the before...







And, my favorite - the after!! We tried some more the next day with her a little more reclined and she took to it much better. But, the one hazard that no one warned me about - constipation. We're taking a few days off and we'll try again with it even more diluted.


I did manage to make a pretty nice Thanksgiving meal with a little help from the professionals:




Here's us with the turkey:



We're so thankful for our family and the sweet baby girl that God brought into our lives. It's hard to believe that one year ago we found out we were expecting quite the miracle. I can still remember being completed shocked when the nurse called to tell me the news. We were completely surprised and delighted in how God had his own timeframe in mind. Who knows what the next year will bring, but for now, we're thankful!

Halloween and such

So, it's been a long while since I've posted anything. I've mostly been trying to get this whole blogging thing figured out and try and find time (!) to post and update. My goal is to try and post at least a few times a week to let you know what's going on with us and to add some pics of little Mady.

So, Madelyn was a black cat for halloween. You can't really get the full effect of her costume in this photo, so I might take a post-halloween posed shot where you can see her in all her feline glory - tail and all! She didn't mind the costume too much. It's velvet, so more than anything it made her hot! She didn't go out trick-or-treating this year. We're gonna save that for next year when she's a bit more mobile!

This little outfit (shirt and socks) was given to us by some of my coworkers. I've tried several times to get her picture in it, but somehow she always manages to end up not wearing it when I go to pick her up from daycare (i.e. blowout!) My favorite thing about this outfit is how her belly has a tendency to peek out. I think she was sucking it in for this shot! :)

Tuesday Madelyn's great-grandparents from West Virginia came to visit. She was pretty tired and a little cranky, but did manage to crack a few smiles and sit on the table while we ate our gourmet meal of pizza and cheese bread. Somehow I managed to only get pictures of her with one set of great-grandparents. I'm sure I'll be getting some from someone of the others. It was very neat and special that she got to see them. We're very lucky to have so many people that love and care about us and our new little one!